StuckinITH

Yes, you have found the sweet spot. Even better is that passengers in Premium Plus have higher priority for the upgrade to Business than passengers in Economy. And if the upgrade does not clear at least you have a better seat and service than in Economy.

jsloan

I can confirm that R is often cheaper than W on TATL fares, and R can be upgraded with a GPU as long as the flight is operated by UA. You cannot use a GPU on an R fare on a flight that's operated by LH.

findark

Deep discount PE is outrageously, absurdly cheap right now. Partly my opinion, but also relative to the TATL market equilibrium before UA added PE and also the going rate on NZ TPAC or NH before UA similarly blasted the market. IMO, enjoy it while it lasts.

StuckinITH

By the time they will sell PP on flights from/to ORD those deep discount PP prices will just be something that FTers reminisce about. Just my luck that it's difficult from my location to travel through another airport.......

Bearcat16

Hello everyone, I currently have an upcoming flight and applied GPUs for the trip. I selected it to apply to both Polaris Business class and also Premium Economy. I know it gets burned if I only get the PE upgrade, but does opting for both hurt my chances of getting the Polaris upgrade? Thanks for any thoughts or insights.

aacharya

The Premium Plus thread and UA's websites actually denote PP has a higher priority over anyone else sitting in Economy for Polaris. (Obviously GS is a different story).

jsloan

That only refers to passengers who purchased P+, though.

The question is whether or not UA will preferentially upgrade passengers from Y to J if they haven't selected P+ as an option, meaning that UA gets to use up as many instruments as possible.

My response is that UA has shown no indication that they care how many instruments are outstanding, and that I think it would be too clever for UA's IT by half. It would also irritate a lot of people if it became public knowledge.

So, while I can't say that we know for sure, personally, I doubt it. (However, if you're looking at paying for a W fare, I'd check the price for a PE R fare also. It may not be much more expensive -- in fact, it could be less expensive -- and then you don't have to worry about UA being sneaky.

wco81

But is Premium Plus worth it?

Or is the price difference to regular Y negligible?

fumje

R fares seem to hover around the price of W, both + and - (the arbitrage opportunity).

A and O fares are a bit of a premium, which may not be worth it.

If the choice is K or R, I have a hard time saying R is worth it for the seat alone, but broadly that is the same old question of whether it's worth buying up to W.

findark

"Is the premium cabin worth it?" is always a personal choice. My description of PE as "absurdly cheap" is based on fares relative to the equilibrium before UA's introduction to the market, and also the back-of-the-envelope that PE would need a RASM close to 20 in order to break even (slightly higher than 50% premium to E- purely on a floor-space basis).

But for me, absolutely. On a daytime flight, it's the difference between comfort and misery. On an overnight flight, it's grudging acceptance versus "I will not fly". I will waitlist an instrument in PE going to J.. I would not do the same in Y. All that for a couple hundred round trip? It's a great deal!

Kacee

It really depends on route. On SFO-HKG it is about $300 higher each direction.

wco81

findark

I was talking about floor space there - I'm doing back of the envelope math. UA had a gross CASM of 13.9 in 1Q19, so for a seat which takes up 50% more space it's going to cost about 50% more (extra service nets out over fewer pax, roughly). This is probably an overestimate for a number of reasons, but I was explaining my reasoning that a sub~$1,500 PE fare from the West Coast to either Asia or Europe is not sustainable.

As far as "worth it", I personally don't care much what the premium is. I would not fly in Economy on an intercontinental flight if it were free. Price is only important insofar as it influences how much, when, and where I choose to fly. I'm not about trying to maximize some hypothetical service quality to dollar ratio; I just want to fly above a baseline level of comfort at the best available price. For me that level tends to be "shrug my shoulders and cross my legs without striking objects or people" for flights longer than I would be willing to stand on a subway car, and "able to lie down" if I am spending the night on the aircraft.

Obviously, this is a personal decision which is different for every pax, which is why "is it worth it" is a rather intangible question.

fumje

Yes, W can be more expensive than R, but it can also be cheaper by even that much (some TATL routes). I doubt the latter will be the long-term status quo, though.

Aussienarelle

I have been reluctant to waitlist to PP using a GPU with the secondary waitlist to Polaris mainly because I was not convinced the United IT system would cope with the "double" upgrade.

My first attempt at using a GPU from economy to Polaris, albeit there was PP on the flights, I ended up upfaring to PP and then there was an automatic upgrade to Polaris at the time of the upfare (albeit PZ was displaying as 0 - surprised the CS agent and me).

My first attempt at using a GPU from PP to Polaris was a no go. SFO-FRA which I understand is a hard route to get PZ and PP was a comfortable ride.

However, I have booked a PQD run to HKG and the coach fare is ridiculously cheap (I suspect due to the current political environment) but covered the missing PQD to make 1K for 2020. PP was quite a hefty price tag (unlike other instances where W is often more than R). So I have done the double GPU waitlist as PP for 15 hours is much better than 10 across in coach, and same for the return.

I am looking for reports that people have been successful with the double upgrade using their GPUs.